‘It’s the first time I haven’t had a surfboard since I was 10 years old but I need a laptop so I checked the listing and the seller’s rating.

‘He’d been a member for a few years, so there was nothing to be suspicious about.

‘I was excited about winning the auction and just thought, ‘I’ve got a laptop so I can start the business’.

‘The package was as light as a feather. Why bother sending a picture in a box? It doesn’t make any sense. I almost had to laugh.’

He has has been in and out of hospital in recent months with a lung condition known as Bullous Emphesima, which has meant he is unable to surf and had to give up his job in child care.

‘The worst thing is, I’m trying to set up a business and this is a massive delay,’

A spokesman for eBay said: ‘We were very sorry to hear about Mr Barrington’s unusual experience. We’ll make sure he gets a refund as soon as possible and investigate the circumstances around this sale.

‘eBay takes the issue of fraud very seriously, with more than 149 million active global users engaged in transactions across 50,000 unique categories.

‘At any given moment, over 800 million listings are offered for sale on eBay globally – with the overwhelming majority of listings on eBay coming from honest and law-abiding sellers.’